The short answer is that there are four main purposes of schooling that are discussed consistently.
- Cognitive Development – Things such as developing critical thinking skills, creativity, and knowledge
- Emotional Development – Things such as developing a love of learning, self-esteem, respect for self and others
- Civic Development – Things like becoming a responsible and productive citizen in an ever changing world
- Career Development – Things like developing the skills needed to succeed in workforce
Naturally, schools and people can embrace one or all of these orientations. They are not mutually exclusive. However, your primary orientation toward each of these four approaches does lead to different conclusions about things such as what kinds of content should be taught in schools and how students should be assessed.
For example, the standards-based movement associated most recently with the Common Core Standards is a clear reflection of an orientation that values Cognitive Development as the primary purpose of schooling. This is because the goal is to ensure that all students are learning specific content knowledge and developing habits of thinking critically about data. The past 20 years have seen the Cognitive purpose schooling dominate the policy conversation, but these four orientations do take turns at center stage and we are clearly in the middle of a shift in orientation. Which orientation will take center stage next is up for debate. For example
There is a good argument to be made that considerations surrounding students’ Social-Emotional Development might take center stage. For several decades now, the researchers at the Collaborative for Social Emotional, and Academic Learning (CASEL) have been pushing legislative reforms in the state of Illinois that required all students to be assessed in terms of their SEL. These efforts have been successful and there increasing recognition of the importance of this work. Issues of student mental health have become prominent and pervasive and issues of historical trauma and trauma-informed pedagogy are receiving increased attention. Thus, it is entirely possible that this will be the next frontier of school purpose to rise to the foreground.
On the other hand, there is a strong argument to be made in favor of the importance of centering Civic Development. In the wake of the attempted insurrection of the US government on January 6, 2021 and the efforts of the political establishment to disenfranchise voters, particularly voters of color, in states like Georgia, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of understanding how the process of American Democracy works and in terms of pushing back against it actively to expose the injustices it has created and perpetuated. Increased awareness of disproportionate rates of incarceration of black people (stripping them of citizenship as a result). Increased recognition of police brutality directed toward black and brown communities and the impugnity the white police officers face has led to protests under the moniker of Black Lives Matter. It is not enough to study the isssue of citizenship from an academic perspective at a safe distance. One must get involved from a behavioral standpoint to see systematic change. The increases in activism suggest that Civic Development may take center stage in this new era.
However, there is also a compelling argument that Career Development will take the foreground. With the historic loss of jobs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, people need skill development to get into jobs to put food on the table. it is difficult to move up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to higher minded orientations if one cannot fulfill one’s basic survival needs of food and shelter. Thus, there is a compelling argument that before any other purpose can be met, there should be a clear focus on the practical skills that are going to allow people to be gainfully employed in order to survive in society. However, this orientation comes at two ends. The one end is survival and the other end is advancement. The corporate powers such as Facebook, Google, Apple, and the like, have suggested that “coding” is a 21st century skill that everyone should possess. When the argument was being advanced, the notion was that people with this skill could earn high salaries in the corporate world. But the reality is that training everyone to learn coding serves the corporate interests from a supply and demand perspective. If everyone knows how to code, there will be such a huge supply of people with that skill that the demand will be low and the corporations will be able to greatly reduce the extent to which they compensate people for having such skills.
